The week just gone was the one in which I began running on three consecutive days and resting on the fourth. So far all has gone well and there are no problems at all, it's still very early stages yet though.
Cycling and strength training is also progressing exceptionally well at the moment and my aerobic fitness seems to be getting better almost daily. One measure of this increase is heart rate when waking in the morning. This year, on a week by week basis, that has been:
[figures are the mean of the previous 28 mornings]
6 January ..... 51.6
13 January ..... 50.5
20 January ..... 49.4
27 January ..... 49.1
3 February ..... 49.2
10 February ..... 49.9
17 February ..... 50.1
24 February ..... 49.6
3 March ..... 49.4
10 March ..... 49.4
17 March ..... 49.4
24 March ..... 49.5
31 March ..... 49.3
7 April ..... 49.0
14 April ..... 49.1
21 April ..... 48.6
28 April ..... 47.9
Shame about my weight though. That remains about 3.5 kg above racing level.
Congratulations to Sue Harrison on her third place finish in the European 100k championships yesterday with a time of 7h 48:12. The other runner from UK finished in thirteenth with 8h 29:03. But where were all the other good British 100k road runners ?
Sunday, 28 April 2013
Saturday, 20 April 2013
a marathon week
Well, this week has been fine for me. Using different shoes for strength training has worked wonders and I'm back on track again.
Running on Thursday morning wasn't easy though. Gale force winds and heavy rain meant that the 50 minutes felt like 150 minutes. Character building, as I often tell myself. Friday wasn't much better either. If the runs on Sunday and Monday go well (as I expect they will) then I can begin training on three consecutive days. Starting at a low level again and building up slowly so that the final three days will be running steadily for 50, 60 and 60 minutes.
But this week has been dominated by a couple of short races. One in Boston, USA and the other in London, UK.
The Boston marathon will be remembered, not for being a great race, but for being the scene of a devastation rarely seen at sporting events. Thankfully the perpetrators were identified and caught (or killed) but my thoughts go out to all those affected by the mindless violence of two brothers.
And so to tomorrow's race in London. For the past few years, when watching the London Marathon, my attention has not so much been on the elite runners looking to win the race but on those rare souls who have taken part in every London Marathon. The 'ever present club'. In particular I will be watching out for Chris Finill who has run every London Marathon in less than 3 hours, a remarkable achievement. Long may it continue Chris.
To finish today's post I thought I'd ask how many members there may be for the club of with the following rules:
- been a runner continuously since before 1981
- watched every single London Marathon live on TV
- doesn't particularly want to take part in the London Marathon
Count me in ...
Running on Thursday morning wasn't easy though. Gale force winds and heavy rain meant that the 50 minutes felt like 150 minutes. Character building, as I often tell myself. Friday wasn't much better either. If the runs on Sunday and Monday go well (as I expect they will) then I can begin training on three consecutive days. Starting at a low level again and building up slowly so that the final three days will be running steadily for 50, 60 and 60 minutes.
But this week has been dominated by a couple of short races. One in Boston, USA and the other in London, UK.
The Boston marathon will be remembered, not for being a great race, but for being the scene of a devastation rarely seen at sporting events. Thankfully the perpetrators were identified and caught (or killed) but my thoughts go out to all those affected by the mindless violence of two brothers.
And so to tomorrow's race in London. For the past few years, when watching the London Marathon, my attention has not so much been on the elite runners looking to win the race but on those rare souls who have taken part in every London Marathon. The 'ever present club'. In particular I will be watching out for Chris Finill who has run every London Marathon in less than 3 hours, a remarkable achievement. Long may it continue Chris.
To finish today's post I thought I'd ask how many members there may be for the club of with the following rules:
- been a runner continuously since before 1981
- watched every single London Marathon live on TV
- doesn't particularly want to take part in the London Marathon
Count me in ...
Sunday, 14 April 2013
injury update
Another week gone ... not too bad. Not perfect but OK.
Everything was fine at the start of the week but in the middle my ankle began to rebel a bit. Not much but enough for me to postpone thoughts of another race for a while. As it happened yesterday's run was entirely pain free but I thought it better to be safe than sorry.
Today was much better and confidence has been restored again.
I think the slight relapse was caused by the shoes I have been wearing for strength training. Wore a different pair today and it was like having new ankles ... absolutely no pain whatsoever.
Running earlier in the morning than usual is also a risk factor for ankle injuries because the achilles tendon remains relatively stiff for a while after waking up. Taking care to warm up properly has been helping with that, and I find it more fun running at that time of day. I've also been doing quite a bit more general flexibility work recently.
Still doing rehab exercises five times a day - eccentric achilles stretches, calf stretches and straight leg hamstring stretches.
Overall, progress is still being made and, as I've said before, I'm not interested in a quick fix. I want a permanent solution.
Everything was fine at the start of the week but in the middle my ankle began to rebel a bit. Not much but enough for me to postpone thoughts of another race for a while. As it happened yesterday's run was entirely pain free but I thought it better to be safe than sorry.
Today was much better and confidence has been restored again.
I think the slight relapse was caused by the shoes I have been wearing for strength training. Wore a different pair today and it was like having new ankles ... absolutely no pain whatsoever.
Running earlier in the morning than usual is also a risk factor for ankle injuries because the achilles tendon remains relatively stiff for a while after waking up. Taking care to warm up properly has been helping with that, and I find it more fun running at that time of day. I've also been doing quite a bit more general flexibility work recently.
Still doing rehab exercises five times a day - eccentric achilles stretches, calf stretches and straight leg hamstring stretches.
Overall, progress is still being made and, as I've said before, I'm not interested in a quick fix. I want a permanent solution.
Sunday, 7 April 2013
more ramblings ...
I know I haven't posted for a while but until I can start training and racing properly again I don't really have much say.
Everything is looking up though at the moment, especially in the early morning spring sunshine. Running at the break of dawn has been a real boost for me and I feel a renewed sense of wanting to get back to running for more than a few miles at a time.
Still must stick to the schedule though. That in itself is good training ... good mental discipline to stick so rigidly to a schedule for such a prolonged period.
The recent holiday period was good, especially as Keir finally managed to get here ... and then managed to get back to Northern Ireland without any problems despite the threat of more snow. We didn't hang around at the airport any longer than we needed to as Leeds Bradford Airport is a very cold place even in summer. Being situated on the top of a very large hill doesn't help.
Between training I've been helping Fay with decorating and fixing things about the house. Note that I'm only helping, Fay is much better at decorating than me so I let her get on with it. She enjoys it much more than I do too. Her recent health scare is well and truly in the past now too.
Although Fiona's is still ongoing and will be for quite some time probably.
Anyway that's enough of me rambling on for now ... more later.
Everything is looking up though at the moment, especially in the early morning spring sunshine. Running at the break of dawn has been a real boost for me and I feel a renewed sense of wanting to get back to running for more than a few miles at a time.
Still must stick to the schedule though. That in itself is good training ... good mental discipline to stick so rigidly to a schedule for such a prolonged period.
The recent holiday period was good, especially as Keir finally managed to get here ... and then managed to get back to Northern Ireland without any problems despite the threat of more snow. We didn't hang around at the airport any longer than we needed to as Leeds Bradford Airport is a very cold place even in summer. Being situated on the top of a very large hill doesn't help.
Between training I've been helping Fay with decorating and fixing things about the house. Note that I'm only helping, Fay is much better at decorating than me so I let her get on with it. She enjoys it much more than I do too. Her recent health scare is well and truly in the past now too.
Although Fiona's is still ongoing and will be for quite some time probably.
Anyway that's enough of me rambling on for now ... more later.
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Latest News
I've recently seen that there is likely to be a third Commonwealth Mountain & Ultra Distance Championships. The organisers have invited countries to submit bids with a view to staging the races in 2015. The long term aim is still to have mountain races and ultra distance races at the 2018 Commonwealth Games (Gold Coast, Australia).
I represented England at both of the first two Commonwealth Championships (Keswick 2009 and Llandudno 2011) and they were extremely enjoyable events at which the camaraderie amongst the athletes of different countries and disciplines was second to none.
I will definitely be aiming for a place in the England team for 2015 and 2018 ...
... but reading the tender document put together by the Commonwealth Association of Mountain and Ultra Distance Running to help with prospective bids I see there is no mention at all of 24 hour races except on the final page. And that solitary mention is a bit ambiguous in that it could mean that the 24 hour race has been omitted from the document by mistake. Maybe. Hope so.
As you probably know I'm now running on two consecutive days (well, running and walking) and it seems to be going well. No problems at all although I sense that the walking bit is still necessary at the moment. Getting there though.
Keir finally arrived home on Sunday. He was due to arrive on Friday evening but his flight was cancelled until lunch time on Sunday. That flight took off OK and made it all the way to Yorkshire before circling over Leeds Bradford Airport for 30 mins or so. We did wonder about that but we were then even more shocked to learn that it was flying back to Manchester as there was too much snow to make a safe landing in Yorkshire. He finally arrived home at about 4.00pm on Sunday. Normally the journey from Ulster University to Otley would take him about 6 or 7 hours ... this one took an amazing 51 hours.
Hope the weather is better when he flies back at the end of next week.
Before I go, well done to Debbie M-C on her win at the Thames Path 100 mile race at the weekend. Apparently the weather was atrocious and the race was diverted from it's normal route. Personally, I wouldn't race 100 miles (161 km) only seven weeks before a 24 hour race but recovery rates vary enormously between runners and I'm sure she'll have a brilliant race in Steenbergen - and come away with another pb and Scottish record.
And finally ... all the best to those taking part in the Anglo Celtic Plate 100k in Perth [Scotland, not Australia] in a few days time. Hope the temperatures increase slightly.
I represented England at both of the first two Commonwealth Championships (Keswick 2009 and Llandudno 2011) and they were extremely enjoyable events at which the camaraderie amongst the athletes of different countries and disciplines was second to none.
I will definitely be aiming for a place in the England team for 2015 and 2018 ...
... but reading the tender document put together by the Commonwealth Association of Mountain and Ultra Distance Running to help with prospective bids I see there is no mention at all of 24 hour races except on the final page. And that solitary mention is a bit ambiguous in that it could mean that the 24 hour race has been omitted from the document by mistake. Maybe. Hope so.
As you probably know I'm now running on two consecutive days (well, running and walking) and it seems to be going well. No problems at all although I sense that the walking bit is still necessary at the moment. Getting there though.
Keir finally arrived home on Sunday. He was due to arrive on Friday evening but his flight was cancelled until lunch time on Sunday. That flight took off OK and made it all the way to Yorkshire before circling over Leeds Bradford Airport for 30 mins or so. We did wonder about that but we were then even more shocked to learn that it was flying back to Manchester as there was too much snow to make a safe landing in Yorkshire. He finally arrived home at about 4.00pm on Sunday. Normally the journey from Ulster University to Otley would take him about 6 or 7 hours ... this one took an amazing 51 hours.
Hope the weather is better when he flies back at the end of next week.
Before I go, well done to Debbie M-C on her win at the Thames Path 100 mile race at the weekend. Apparently the weather was atrocious and the race was diverted from it's normal route. Personally, I wouldn't race 100 miles (161 km) only seven weeks before a 24 hour race but recovery rates vary enormously between runners and I'm sure she'll have a brilliant race in Steenbergen - and come away with another pb and Scottish record.
And finally ... all the best to those taking part in the Anglo Celtic Plate 100k in Perth [Scotland, not Australia] in a few days time. Hope the temperatures increase slightly.
Friday, 22 March 2013
Keir and the World Championships
Woke up this morning to find lots of snow all around - I guess it must have been 10cm or so, everywhere. I know that isn't particularly deep but for this part of the world, near the end of March, it's lots.
Apparently there are only two places in the whole country with so much snow at the moment - Yorkshire and Northern Ireland and the consequences are that Leeds Bradford Airport and Belfast City Airport were both closed. They are open now ... but only just and with many flights cancelled or delayed.
Keir is coming home from university today for the Easter holiday. He is at Ulster University and is flying from Belfast City to Leeds Bradford. There are three flights today ... he's on the third but the first two have been cancelled. I think it's fair to say we're a bit worried at the moment.
Apart from that, news has recently appeared from British Athletics [new name for UK Athletics ... not sure why] about the team for the World 24 hr Championships in Steenbergen in May. On the men's team is John Pares, Pat Robbins, Matt Moroz, Robbie Britton and Steve Holyoak. If John is fit he should do very well - he's is capable of a top 5 placing at his best. Pat and Steve are both capable of over 240 km and I don't know too much about Robbie and Matt except that perhaps they prefer the trails. I really do hope everyone has an outstanding race though.
The women are represented by Lizzy Hawker, Emily Gelder, Debbie Martin-Consani, Sharon Law and Karen Hathaway. Lizzy broke the world 24 hr road record in her last race of this type (Llandudno - Sep 2010), Emily finished third in the last world championships and Debbie is the Scottish record holder. An excellent team and, again, I wish them all every success.
My recovery seems to be going well at the moment too. On Wednesday I had to forego my strength training and cycling though as I had to do some emergency DIY repairs in the bathroom. Without going into great detail I had to replace the light fitting, pull cord and part of the ceiling. Managed 20 minutes through the snow this morning with the same tomorrow and all in all everything seems OK.
Apparently there are only two places in the whole country with so much snow at the moment - Yorkshire and Northern Ireland and the consequences are that Leeds Bradford Airport and Belfast City Airport were both closed. They are open now ... but only just and with many flights cancelled or delayed.
Keir is coming home from university today for the Easter holiday. He is at Ulster University and is flying from Belfast City to Leeds Bradford. There are three flights today ... he's on the third but the first two have been cancelled. I think it's fair to say we're a bit worried at the moment.
Apart from that, news has recently appeared from British Athletics [new name for UK Athletics ... not sure why] about the team for the World 24 hr Championships in Steenbergen in May. On the men's team is John Pares, Pat Robbins, Matt Moroz, Robbie Britton and Steve Holyoak. If John is fit he should do very well - he's is capable of a top 5 placing at his best. Pat and Steve are both capable of over 240 km and I don't know too much about Robbie and Matt except that perhaps they prefer the trails. I really do hope everyone has an outstanding race though.
The women are represented by Lizzy Hawker, Emily Gelder, Debbie Martin-Consani, Sharon Law and Karen Hathaway. Lizzy broke the world 24 hr road record in her last race of this type (Llandudno - Sep 2010), Emily finished third in the last world championships and Debbie is the Scottish record holder. An excellent team and, again, I wish them all every success.
My recovery seems to be going well at the moment too. On Wednesday I had to forego my strength training and cycling though as I had to do some emergency DIY repairs in the bathroom. Without going into great detail I had to replace the light fitting, pull cord and part of the ceiling. Managed 20 minutes through the snow this morning with the same tomorrow and all in all everything seems OK.
Sunday, 17 March 2013
end of this phase
Well, today I've finally reached the end of this section of rehab. Since 24 January I've been running every second day which also means that every second day is a recovery day.
The next stage, beginning on Tuesday, repeats everything since 24 January except that every third day is a recovery day. Which means running for two consecutive days - will the ankle be OK.
Of course it will ...
And when this stage ends I repeat everything again with the recovery days being every fourth day. And then every fifth day.
I'm aiming for a long term solution, not a quick fix.
And for the Irish readers (Eoin, Thomas, Daniel, John, etc) ...
The next stage, beginning on Tuesday, repeats everything since 24 January except that every third day is a recovery day. Which means running for two consecutive days - will the ankle be OK.
Of course it will ...
And when this stage ends I repeat everything again with the recovery days being every fourth day. And then every fifth day.
I'm aiming for a long term solution, not a quick fix.
And for the Irish readers (Eoin, Thomas, Daniel, John, etc) ...
Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona
Thursday, 14 March 2013
Fay and Fiona
OK I know that title is a bit strange but there is a good reason.
Let's start with Fiona. She's a Scottish ultra runner who is seriously ill at the minute - and not for the first time. She's a lovely woman who needs all the support she can get, and if she reads this she should know that I really do wish her all the best. I know she'll make a full recovery - she's a tough cookie, that one.
Now let's move on to Fay. On Tuesday evening, at home, we had a little 'episode'. Well, quite a major episode as it turned out. She began feeling unwell at about 6:00pm and at 7:45pm I phoned for an ambulance which took us to the A & E in Leeds.
We were there until 3 o'clock the following morning when the doctors finally managed to sort out what was wrong and get things under control. I'm not going to go into great detail (you really don't want me to ...) but the problem was that the new contraception we're using had caused a blood disorder.
For a menstruating woman, having blood that doesn't clot is not good.
Happy to report that everything is under control now but it was quite scary on Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning.
There was light hearted moment when we finally got home though. Fay said to me: "I know you're supposed to go for a run after breakfast but why don't you go now (4 am). You're tired and it's dark outside, it'll be just like a 24 hour race. You'll enjoy it."
I politely declined on the grounds that I was too tired. But really I wanted to keep an eye on her to make sure everything was OK. It is, and everything's back to normal.
Let's start with Fiona. She's a Scottish ultra runner who is seriously ill at the minute - and not for the first time. She's a lovely woman who needs all the support she can get, and if she reads this she should know that I really do wish her all the best. I know she'll make a full recovery - she's a tough cookie, that one.
Now let's move on to Fay. On Tuesday evening, at home, we had a little 'episode'. Well, quite a major episode as it turned out. She began feeling unwell at about 6:00pm and at 7:45pm I phoned for an ambulance which took us to the A & E in Leeds.
We were there until 3 o'clock the following morning when the doctors finally managed to sort out what was wrong and get things under control. I'm not going to go into great detail (you really don't want me to ...) but the problem was that the new contraception we're using had caused a blood disorder.
For a menstruating woman, having blood that doesn't clot is not good.
Happy to report that everything is under control now but it was quite scary on Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning.
There was light hearted moment when we finally got home though. Fay said to me: "I know you're supposed to go for a run after breakfast but why don't you go now (4 am). You're tired and it's dark outside, it'll be just like a 24 hour race. You'll enjoy it."
I politely declined on the grounds that I was too tired. But really I wanted to keep an eye on her to make sure everything was OK. It is, and everything's back to normal.
Saturday, 9 March 2013
bad race
This morning was a shambles.
The original plan was to run for an hour but include a local 5k race. But with the slight recurrence of ankle pain a couple of days ago I decided to only run for 50 minutes but still include the 5k race.
But ... for reasons totally beyond my control [traffic problems and Fay being ill] I arrived late and missed the start by at least 20 minutes. Never mind, I thought, I can still run a quicker than usual 5k which will be good training if nothing else.
And then, after about 1.8k I took a wrong turn. Unbelievable. Today was just getting worse. I continued and eventually got back on the correct route. Back at home, looking at a map, I can see that I probably ran about 60m short.
And so to the times. I knew that my official time would be of no use whatsoever but I had set myself a tentative target of running the 5k in about 22:30. Using my stopwatch I ran the first kilometre in a quick 4:11 - slightly downhill and chasing people. I didn't time the next three kilometres (the wrong turn would have made the second and third km wrong anyway) but the final one was timed at 4:35.
I stopped my watch at 22:11 but have adjusted that to 22:27 which is my slowest ever timed 5k.
Officially my time was 45:17 which is my slowest ever time in a 10k race.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Anyway ... a fun exercise in fairly bad weather. The time was OK too. And the ankle held up better than expected so I've decided my next training runs should be:
Monday 11 March ... 50 minutes
Wednesday 13 March ...50 minutes
Friday 15 March ... 60 minutes
Sunday 17 March ... 60 minutes
and then, on 19 March, back to alternating running and walking (10 minutes at first) but on two consecutive days before a recovery day. This is six days later than planned but I don't want to rush things - a proper, long term, recovery is needed.
The original plan was to run for an hour but include a local 5k race. But with the slight recurrence of ankle pain a couple of days ago I decided to only run for 50 minutes but still include the 5k race.
But ... for reasons totally beyond my control [traffic problems and Fay being ill] I arrived late and missed the start by at least 20 minutes. Never mind, I thought, I can still run a quicker than usual 5k which will be good training if nothing else.
And then, after about 1.8k I took a wrong turn. Unbelievable. Today was just getting worse. I continued and eventually got back on the correct route. Back at home, looking at a map, I can see that I probably ran about 60m short.
And so to the times. I knew that my official time would be of no use whatsoever but I had set myself a tentative target of running the 5k in about 22:30. Using my stopwatch I ran the first kilometre in a quick 4:11 - slightly downhill and chasing people. I didn't time the next three kilometres (the wrong turn would have made the second and third km wrong anyway) but the final one was timed at 4:35.
I stopped my watch at 22:11 but have adjusted that to 22:27 which is my slowest ever timed 5k.
Officially my time was 45:17 which is my slowest ever time in a 10k race.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Anyway ... a fun exercise in fairly bad weather. The time was OK too. And the ankle held up better than expected so I've decided my next training runs should be:
Monday 11 March ... 50 minutes
Wednesday 13 March ...50 minutes
Friday 15 March ... 60 minutes
Sunday 17 March ... 60 minutes
and then, on 19 March, back to alternating running and walking (10 minutes at first) but on two consecutive days before a recovery day. This is six days later than planned but I don't want to rush things - a proper, long term, recovery is needed.
Thursday, 7 March 2013
now what ?
Today's run was not good.
Apart from it feeling unusually difficult to run for 50 minutes my ankle began hurting about 5 - 6 minutes before the end. Now, it could be that the course was not as flat as my recent routes. Or it could be that, at the moment, 50 minutes is my limit.
Or maybe it's just a blip. After icing the area and taking some extra protein I got some advice from the physio.
The suggestion is that, for the moment, I should continue so long as it isn't debilitating. The problem is that ultra distance runners have a different perception of pain to the rest of the population ...
Will listen extra carefully to my body for the next few days.
Apart from it feeling unusually difficult to run for 50 minutes my ankle began hurting about 5 - 6 minutes before the end. Now, it could be that the course was not as flat as my recent routes. Or it could be that, at the moment, 50 minutes is my limit.
Or maybe it's just a blip. After icing the area and taking some extra protein I got some advice from the physio.
The suggestion is that, for the moment, I should continue so long as it isn't debilitating. The problem is that ultra distance runners have a different perception of pain to the rest of the population ...
Will listen extra carefully to my body for the next few days.
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